Ringette runs deep in Morrissette family

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2022 (1162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Leon Morrissette was a legendary goaltender in his day in the 1960’s with the St. Pierre Braves of the Hanover Tache Hockey League, et al.

Morrissette, the former dairy farmer and lifelong resident of St. Pierre Jolys would later become the president of the thriving HTHL. And it was also during that time that he found a new passion, and that was through the sport of ringette, which was taken up by his daughters and then later his grandchildren.

He introduced the sport to St. Pierre and helped it to grow in the community, and during the 1980’s and 90’s he became a driving force in Eastman ringette and indeed in the province.

And now it has all come full circle as ringette is a Morrissette family tradition as several of his granddaughters have also excelled in the sport, winning and competing on the provincial and national stage.

In fact the whole clan is in Calgary this week as several of members of the Morrissette family are competing in the Ringette Nationals, either as players or in a coaching capacity.

As the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In other words, if you are a Morrissette, the sport of ringette runs through your veins.

When Morrissette talks about ringette these days, it is not so much what he accomplished as a coach and builder in the sport in the previous decades, but rather the exploits of his granddaughters in the sport

His daughter Lynn Girardin said her parents, who spent the winter in Texas the past 15 years or so, “would sometimes fly home to watch the grandchildren play in a big tournament or provincials.” And of course they wouldn’t miss the national championships as well, on right now in Calgary.

Girardin, one of those first players in those early years in St. Pierre, remains heavily involved in the sport today, now living in Winnipeg and in fact will be the head coach for Team Manitoba at the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

Currently coaching the U19 ‘AA’ Bonivital Angels at nationals in Calgary she has been involved in the sport for 40 years as a player and coach, and was named the Coach of the Year by Ringette Manitoba in 2021, the second time Girardin had won the award.

She talks about her father’s legacy in the sport. “Everything he does is with passion and that includes ringette, he put everything he had into it, that passion for ringette he has instilled in us.”

As noted earlier, when Leon Morrissette made the decision to get involved in ringette, it became a lifelong journey for him and his family.

The founding president of St. Pierre Ringette, he also went on to become president of Eastman Ringette and Ringette Manitoba. He was also the Chair of the 1995 Ringette Nationals in Winnipeg.

He also coached for many years for the Eastman ‘AA’ ringette programs, whose teams went on to win three provincial gold medals and a pair of silver and bronze medals at the highly competitive national championships at the time.

Morrissette has also been recognized for his decades of volunteerism by being inducted into both the Manitoba and Canadian Ringette Halls of Fame.

But for now, he says he gets no greater joy than watching his granddaughters excel at the game, as the tradition continues from generation to generation.